The next round of secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement negotiations begin today in Dallas, Texas. Once again, civil society and other public stakeholder representatives will be shut out of the official meetings, despite the vast impact this international agreement will have on economies and societies around the world. A number of organizations have stakeholder events planned around the week of negotiations, but we are still denied the ability to even view the current content of the TPP, and therefore it's extremely limiting for us to address the likely impact of TPP on the millions of citizens it will affect.

Public Citizen has released this parodic video to help raise public awareness about the TPP and to demand transparency in its negotiation process.

UPDATE 5/29/12: Nabeel Rajab has been released on bail, three weeks after being arrested on charges of inciting protests by using social networking sites. Rajab, president of Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, said he paid bail of 300 dinars and is banned from traveling abroad as part of the conditions of his release.

In India, a massive effort is underway to collect biometric identity information for each of the country’s 1.2 billion people. The incredible plan, dubbed the “mother of all e-governance projects” by the Economic Times, has stirred controversy in India and beyond, raising serious concerns about the privacy and security of individuals’ personal data.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released its annual Special 301 report on Monday, a review of other countries’ intellectual property laws and enforcement standards. The Report lists countries that are singled out for having “bad” intellectual property policies on a tiered set of “watch lists”: the Watch List and the Priority Watch List. The USTR uses the threat of placement on one of these Watch Lists to pressure other countries to adopt heightened copyright, trademark and patent laws that mirror or in some cases exceed U.S. law. By being placed on this list, the USTR hints at the possibility of trade law repercussions.